Skills Required: Prior mountaineering experience required; One should have glacier travel experience, solid cramponing and rock climbing skills up to 5.6 YDS. Continuous movement in exposed terrain should not be a problem. Elementary rope handling skills such as tying in, rappelling and belaying are required.

Fitness Required: Excellent physiclal fitness; you should be able to hike or climb for more than six hours with a pack varying from 20 to 40 pounds and ascend 4,000 to 5,000 feet of vertical gain per day for up to a week.

Just about every mountaineer wants to climb the Matterhorn at some point. We will do that and then some. Martin Volken is a Zermatt Valley native and he can cater this trip to your liking. Any route on the Matterhorn, Weisshorn? Dent Blanche? Or more tucked away gems like the Grand Cornier? Let us know what interests you and we will try to make it happen. We suggest an itinerary, but this can be altered very easily and we would be happy to customize it for you. Customization happens on a "first come first customize basis"...Make sure you are fully prepared. Click Here to review our Matterhorn Preparation.Suggested Itinerary:Day one:We will meet at the Hotel City in Zermatt, go over a quick gear check and then take the Gornergrat train to the scenic Riffelhorn. This day is a pretty casual with minimal approach time and alpine rock climbing up to 5.8, but with very spectacular scenery and great rock. Bring a good camera. We will sleep back at the Hotel City in Zermatt.Day two:An impressive gondola ride will bring us up to the Klein Matterhorn at over 3,800 meters. From here we have to traverse the Breithorn Plateau to the base of our objective on the South side of the Breithorn. The climb across the Breithorn Ridge is exposed and spectacular (summit is at 4,164 meters).Day three:After two days of climbing, the relatively easy hike to the Matterhornhut via Schwarzsee will be rather welcome. It takes about 2 hours to reach the hut at about 3,200 meters.Day four:We will get up at 3:30am and depart the hut by 4am at the latest. The starting pace can be hectic, but this subsides after about 30 minutes. Our total ascent time to the 4,478 meters summit should be somewhere around 4.5 hours. The descent time takes just about the same amount of time. We will be back at the hut in the early afternoon, take a good break and then descend to Zermatt.Day five:This day is built into the program as a rest and or weather day. If conditions are right and the participants are still up for a climb, we could summit peaks like the Weissmiess (4,023 meters) via the North Ridge, the Laquin (4,011 meters) via the South Ridge, maybe Monte Rosa will be in shape instead of the Matterhorn. It will be a physically intense week and you can expect to experience a lot of mountain time.

Pro Ski and Mountain Service is our retail specialty store. It has been located in North Bend, WA since 1999.

The past trips and courses have had a large influence on what we sell. Many of our Pro Guiding customers come on trips and courses with gear they purchased from our store. Not only do we want our clients to have the right gear for the job; we also receive direct feedback from them while they are using it in the field. Trust us - if the gear does not work - we won't sell it.

WHAT IS THE EASIEST WAY TO GET TO ZERMATT? YOU CAN FLY INTO ZURICH OR GENEVA. BOTH OF THE AIRPORT FEATURE A STATE OF THE ART TRAINSTATION RIGHT UNDER OR NEXT TO THE BAGGAGE CLAIM AREA. TRAINS LEAVE EVERY HOUR.

TAKE A TRAIN TO VISP AND THEN SWITCH TRAINS THERE TO ZERMATT. FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION GO TO:

WHERE WILL WE STAY IN ZERMATT?WE HAVE GOOD FRIENDS IN ZERMATT WHO OWN THE HOTEL CITY. CHRISTOPH AND ANJA ARE AVID OUTDOOR PEOPLE THEMSELVES (CHRISTOPH IS A MOUNTAIN GUIDE AS WELL) AND THEY FRIENDLY AND SUPER HELPFUL IN PRETRIP CONDITION UPDATES. www.cityzermatt.ch

HAVE YOU GUIDED THE MATTERHORN BEFORE? YES, MARTIN HAS GUIDED THE MATTERHORN ABOUT 20 TIMES AND ANY GUIDE WHO WILL BE HIRED FOR THIS TRIP WILL HAVE EXPERIENCE ON THE MATTERHORN

WHAT IF THE WEATHER DOES NOT COOPERATE? THAT IS A POSSIBILITY. ALL WE CAN DO IS OUR PART BY BEING PREPARED. SINCE WE ARE FROM THE AREA, WE HAVE MANY ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS. WE WILL BE MOBILE. YOU UP YOUR CHANCES OF SUCCEEDING ON THE MATTERHORN BY ESSENTIALLY BEING PREPARED TO CLIMB IT RIGHT AWAY IF YOU HAVE TO, MEANING YOU DO NOT TREAT THE FIRSTTHREE DAYS AS A LEARNING HOW TO ALPINE CLIMB PHASE. A PERSON WHO IS FIT, CAN GET READY TO BE GUIDED UP THE MATTERHORN IN A FEW DAYS, BUT THIS MIGHT BE THE WINDOW WHERE THE WEATHER IS GOOD.

AS EXAMPLES FOR GREAT PREP CLIMBS, PLEASE LOOK AT OUR NORTH CASCADES PROGRAMS LIKE THE CLASSIC FORBIDDEN PEAK WEST RIDGE OR THE NORTH CASCADES MOUNTAINEERING COURSE.

SHOULD I TIP MY GUIDE? AND HOW MUCH SHOULD I TIP THEM? Although tipping is not a requirement it is considered standard practice in the guiding industry and is appreciated by our guides. We generally recommend roughly 10%-15% of your course or trip cost or flat price tip that you are comfortable with.

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Our retail store Pro Ski and Mountain Service has been run successfully for over twenty years and if you get outfitted by us, we can guarantee you that you will have the right gear for your course or trip.